ACTIONS
- Protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage
- Learning and educational opportunities
- Cultural participation/social inclusion
- Sustainable tourism
- Support research
- Employment (recruiting, training, safety)
- Energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions
- Waste management and reduction
- Transport (forms of, energy use)
- Commercial activities including copyright and IP
- Governance and management
- Security, disaster preparedness, risk reduction
- External partnerships and collaborations
- Toolkit/framework/roadmap
- Case studies
Mainstreaming the Sustainable Development Goals in Developing Countries

Intended Audience
“This document is designed for country-level
stakeholders involved in the implementation of the
SDGs, including the following:
• Government agencies
• Civil society and the private sector
• Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs)
• Decision-makers
• Policymakers
• Development planners”
- C. Dickens, S. Nhlengethwa and B. Ndhlovu, International Water Management Institute
“This document presents guidelines for mainstreaming the SDGs at the country level. With emphasis on developing countries, we give particular attention, where appropriate, to the SDGs focused on food and water.” (p.5)
Avaiable in
- English
SDGs LINKAGES
The resource can help support SDGs 1.4. (equal access to resources), 4.4. (staff training), 4.7 (Education for Sustainable Development), 12.6 (adopting sustainable practices and reporting), 12.8 (information for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature), 17.14 (policy coherence for sustainable development), 17.16 (global and international partnerships) and 17.17 (cross-sector partnerships), and 17.19 (data for the SDGs). It can also support for the policy-related aspects of the SDGS, including 1.B (pro-poor policies), 5.C (promote policies and laws for gender equality), 6.A (support for water and sanitation related activities in developing countries), 10.4 (policies to support equality and equal opportunity), 11.B (integrated policies for inclusion and Disaster Risk Reduction) and 16.B (promote laws and policies for sustainable development). Individual case studies relate to additional SDGs.
Click on the SDG Target to discover Our Collections Matter indicators
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers and proportions of people from particular groups using collections in comparison with demographics in broader society.
- Numbers of people accessing collections.
- Number of targeted programmes that aim to enhance access to collections by disadvantaged groups.
- Sustainable tourism that enhances local communities’ access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property (including cultural and natural heritage), as well as to technology and markets.
- Involvement of people from disadvantaged groups in decision-making activities and processes relating to collections and collections-based institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of policies and policy frameworks that support targeted, accelerated investment to eradicate poverty.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number of young people and adults in skills-development activities and programmes drawing on collections, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
- Increase in number of young people and adults in such programmes.
- Number and proportion of staff who have received training in the last year, to better support their contribution to the SDGs.
- Programs and processes in place to ensure the availability of a skilled workforce.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Numbers of people in each type of programme drawing on collections from different demographic groups.
- Increases in numbers of people in each type of programme from different demographic groups.
- Proportion of people involved in such programmes in relation to overall audience size.
- Evidence that learners have acquired knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of policies relating to collections and collections-based institutions that incorporate gender perspectives to promote gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and proportion of policies that proactively address equality issues relating to fiscal, wage and social protection considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030a.
- Disaster Risk Reduction strategies and plans in place, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, to ensure collecting institutions and collections are factored into planning, and contribute effectively to Disaster Risk Reduction.
- Collections-based institutions included in local plans for social inclusion, resource use, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Clear visions, strategies and plans in place for all aspects of sustainability – environmental, social and economic (people, planet, prosperity)- across all areas of activity.
- Visions, strategies and plans relating to sustainability to be publicly available and incorporated into planning documents.
- Commitments to be in line with local, regional, national and/or international targets and ambitions.
- Incorporation of sustainability into reporting for funders and other stakeholders, including the public. Reporting to include commitments and progress towards targets.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in (a) national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assessment.
- Extent to which global citizenship education and education for sustainable development (including climate change education) are mainstreamed in formal, informal and non-formal education programmes and activities drawing on and related to collections.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of population [audience/users/non-users] reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law.
- Number and proportion of policies that incorporate sustainable development considerations, in the full sense of recognizing all three of social, economic and environmental considerations.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Proportion of policies that incorporate sustainable development considerations, linking to SDGs and targets.
- Incorporation of policy considerations from outside the collections sector into policies of collections-based institutions, to facilitate partnerships and effectiveness.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of global and international multi-stakeholder partnerships that share collection-related knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to address the SDGs, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of global and international multi-stakeholder partnerships involving developing countries that share collection-related knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources to address the SDGs.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Amount of United States dollars committed to public-private and civil society partnerships.
- Number and/or increase in number, and diversity of local, national and regional multi-stakeholder (public, public-private and civil society) partnerships that address the SDGs drawing on collections, or that otherwise involve collections-based organisations and institutions.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Identification and implementation of measures for sustainable development incorporating social and environmental considerations.
- Identification and implementation of both quantitative and qualitative measures of sustainable development.
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Our Collections Matter indicators:
- Number and type of programmes of all kinds that support international co-operation and capacity-building support to developing countries in water and sanitation-relation activities and programmes, including water harvesting, desalination, water efficiency wastewater treatment, recycling and reuse technologies.